TY - JOUR T1 - Assessing small airways dysfunction in asthma, asthma remission and healthy controls using particles in exhaled air JF - ERJ Open Research JO - erjor DO - 10.1183/23120541.00202-2019 VL - 5 IS - 4 SP - 00202-2019 AU - Orestes A. Carpaij AU - Susan Muiser AU - Alex J. Bell AU - Huib A.M. Kerstjens AU - Craig J. Galban AU - Aleksa B. Fortuna AU - Salman Siddiqui AU - Anna-Carin Olin AU - Martijn C. Nawijn AU - Maarten van den Berge Y1 - 2019/10/01 UR - http://openres.ersjournals.com/content/5/4/00202-2019.abstract N2 - Asthma is a chronic disease, characterised by variable airflow obstruction and airway inflammation [1]. Small airways are thought to be a major site of pathology in asthma [2, 3]. There are different tools to assess small airways dysfunction (SAD), such as spirometry, body plethysmography, impulse oscillometry (IOS), multiple-breath nitrogen washout (MBNW), alveolar fraction of exhaled nitric oxide (FENO) and gas trapping assessed by high-resolution computed tomography (CT). However, there is no golden standard and some tests are difficult to perform [2, 3].PExA mass can distinguish asthmatics from healthy individuals. Subjects with complete, but not clinical, asthma remission exhale more PExA mass compared to asthma. Higher PExA mass was associated with better function of both the small and large airways. http://bit.ly/2znHABg ER -